Negative Nine Lives
by Bad Luck Bug
Summary: Ladybug meets Chat Noir, her partner, a ghost.


The end of the chapter is for **day 20: Night on the Town**

* * *

"Y-you can see me?"

Ladybug has a tongue. It can be used for talking. Seems her eyes were trying to take over that job though.

The boy- the cat boy- the boy in a cat costume tucked his arms into his chest, wrung his hands together, and trained his wide pleading eyes on hers. She'd been flying by, en route to battle her third akuma ever, when she asked him what he was doing on the roof. And he floated - not walked - floated closer.

Chat Noir cast his eyes to the side, bone-crushing defeat drawing him into himself.

"Stupid. I must've spooked her." He does that. Spooks the sensitives. Would-be mediums who _sense_ him. Sometimes he tries to hold a conversation as they know he's somewhat there. There's a list of those people in his mind. His favorite being Nino. With a ton of effort he can move earthly items, and it's become a game of choosing a selection of music by tumbling a CD down when needed.

A shutter rattled along her spine. Ladybug inched closer, tilting her head curiously. "Who... what are you? An Akuma?"

He jumped to her in one graceful leap. She jerked back, but resolutely stayed in place.

"You _can_ see me!" he crowed. "Oh wow. Oh my. O- okay. My name is Chat Noir." He rambled off. "This is so cool. I'm like you - I think - watch!" He tossed his right hand skyward. "Cataclysm!" A bubbling accumulation of black energy amassed _into_ his palm. He yanked back, his claws spewing with an excess amount of power. "Now, um," he muttered. It almost disappointed her, if she hadn't been so curious, to see his confidence slip after that little summoning show. He floated over the blue tiled roof to a chimney stack, and pressed his hand into it. A rusting color spread over bricks from his touch. Then disintegrate into dust, leaving a gaping hole in its place. The unstable foundation crumpled into itself . She palmed her forehead with a sigh.

Chat beeped.

"Oops, forgot that part." He gritted his teeth, desperation plain. "My Miraculous, um, I- I can help you! In battles with Cataclysm. It's neat, huh?" He tried to grin, but panic won. Beep. "Please say something."

She surveyed the area beyond him the Akuma had been spotted in before facing him again. What should she say? "Well... it seems you possess a neat talent. I'm Ladybug." She reached to shake his hand, but phased right through. Her fingers curled. "...why are you incorporeal?"

Beep. He pursed his lips. "It's a side-effect."

"Of?"

"Can I help?" He pleaded. "I've seen you fighting those Akuma alone, I should be helping you, but I wasn't... sure you'd see me, but you can! so-"

"Sure."

"Really?" He breathed.

"Yeah, but for now you should go."

"Huh?"

"Your Miraculous. No one can know our identity."

"Oh." He smirked. Beep. "Nyah, I'll be fine."

"Chat Noir."

"Ladybug." He bowed. "If I could retract my claws I would, but alas, the cards are not in my paws."

Chat's words faded with a shrinking beep, disappearing from view as he came up from the bow, a sad smile teasing his lips.

Ladybug swiped at the air when he left, oddly perturbed by the encounter.

* * *

"Do you believe in ghosts?" Alya asked later that day in class.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Marinette tried not to think of Chat Noir. He's not a ghost, right? He's another Miraculous holder. That can vanish. Into thin air.

"Nino said-"

"Nino knows-" Nino turned around in his seat to face them. "-this ghost is alright, he's got a way with beats. I invite him back sometimes."

Marinette scooted back to the farthest edge of her chair. "Ha... hahaha, ghosts aren't... real..."

* * *

"SO ARE YOU A GHOST?!" Ladybug shouted frantically to Chat Noir three rooftops away.

Chat turned his head, cupping a hand to his cat ear.

She tried again. He shook his head and decided to fly closer. Ladybug waved her arms urgently. "N-nononono! Staythereplease!" But he disregarded her. And when he made it to her rooftop she resorted to flinging her arms up around her head, shrieking through the tears gathering at her eyes as she braced for impact- possession- whatever he had in store.

"What's wrong?"

"N-n-nothing!" Ladybug unclasped her yoyo and stumbled before swinging away. "A- Akuma!"

* * *

"You never told me," Ladybug says as she dodges a barrel flung her way.

Meanwhile a barrel rolls right through Chat Noir. "Told you what?"

"Why a you are..." She takes a deep breath. "Why are you a g- ghost?"

He rolls his eyes. "I'm not dead if that's what you're thinking."

"What am I _supposed_ to think?"

"That I'm here to help and that's all that matters." He put his hands to his hips. "If something about curiosity and a cat doesn't sound familiar-"

She flicked a barrel into the air with the snap of her yoyo and kicked it. It flew, and bounced a few times as it returned to the akuma.

"-then all I'll say is that there was in an accident. Satisfied?"

She raised a meaningful brow. "Are you?"

He grinned. "Oh I'm having barrels of fun."

She turned away to hide an exhausted sigh. Then Ladybug cartwheeled to the nearest corner of the Louvre for cover and called her Lucky Charm.

"LB, you're on a roll."

An erasure. Not even a normal one. Shaped like an L. She turned to her partner for a clue. "Did you find his Akuma?"

"Signed handkerchief in his breast pocket."

" **What are you!?** " the akuma demanded, aiming for Chat in the height of hysterics.

"Ah." A barrel whizzed by. "So when you saw that."

He nodded. "Mister Kong saw me."

She fiddled with her earring. "So the Miraculous connects us. Hawkmoth can see you as well."

Figures. The one advantage, and what gives her access also gives him a handicap.

"Yeah, doesn't mean I can't-" he made a grabby hand.

She squinted in question.

He held up one finger, floated to the Akuma, and Cataclysmed his handkerchief.

She nodded her approval. "Neat."

Akuma captured, and Miraculous Ladybug in play, Chat waltz up, head high.

Indulging his ego with a playful eye roll, they fist bumped, knuckles overlapping slightly as he vanished on the wind.

* * *

Now aware, the akuma avoided Chat Noir with a vengeance. Hawkmoth's minions snarled insults about his half life. Petty threats their only form of attack.

"Does it get to you?"

"No," although he wouldn't smile. "This is my life now. And-" He held a palm upright, and she carefully placed her hand there as if he could hold. "I have you." Leaning down, he placed a ghost of a kiss to her knuckles.

Withdrawing, Ladybug fiddled with her yoyo. Stopping before she completely ran away. "D-don't sell yourself short." Although a blush betrayed her face, she cupped his cheek the best she could. "When I accepted the Miraculous, I was terrified. Fighting? Alone? And now that you're here... I don't know where I'd be without you."

He grabbed for her falling hand, biting back a growl as it phased through. "Can I know you? The real you?"

"I..." A second too long and he began to fade. "I'm sorry."

* * *

She left him, but is it the worst that she keeps her identity from the one who has none? Marinette tilts her head to peer sidelong at him as she passes. It's the second time she's passed him on this street. Once to Alya's, second on her night stroll home. He's taken up residence with the gargoyles. The forlorn cat perched upon a roof's edge. A mile-long stare, and how long has he been alone? To not even be interested in the night life below. To not be admiring the lights from above. To simply... be.

She's going to regret it.

Oh god, she can feel life swirling around her, footfalls and conversations and happy farewells. He has none of this mundane experience. How can she be selfish.

Regret feels like the moment she sunk her teeth into stale bread she'd brought from home.

It tastes like smog from the car driving off with a stranger who caught her eye and smiled out of good nature before she could respond.

It looks like a cat perched on the edge of a building no one looks at twice.

She doesn't look at him anymore. She can't. But she stops, sucking air between her teeth. She's glaring at a coffee shop sign that's inviting her in when she yells, " **Chat Noir!** "

A minor disruption on the street, yet for the cat above answered in an instant.

Lingering between the eyes of passersby he searched for the one searching for him.

Her paranoia whispered sweet promises; what if he is a ghost lingering on regrets? Her one chance to avoid a haunting if she would keep walking. Nothing's wrong with how things are. Her cat who routinely captured the akuma via ghostly prowess. Laughed when Ladybug apologized for walking through him. Refused to leave her alone after she leapt headfirst into a swift akuma. Kept her going when she couldn't explain why she was upset.

And who stood still amidst an ever moving crowd. No need to hide from a city unaware, Chat rubbed a palm into his forehead. Shaking away from one voice too many.

"Here, kitty kitty!" Marinette passed him by. Channelling courage like a cover that's better than the book. Winking over her shoulder, Marinette weaved into the crowds.

Chat shot forth, an arrow rippling chill waves through anyone he touched.

This young lady in pink capris, pigtails, and flowers, and Chat circled her like he'd never been allowed to stare.

"Minou," she admonished playfully. "You're doing it again."

All around Parisians rubbed their arms, shivers climbing up their spines.

"Ladybug?" Floating an inch away like distance would better help in identifying her, Chat Noir rolled the baton between his hands. "It's you?"

She bit her lips, nodding.

"It's really you?"

Unable to resist any longer, she cracked a small grin. "Marinette," she introduced.

Repeating his eager circle, she paid no mind to the surrounding confusion. "Thank you!" Brushing through him she could _feel_ his excitement. "Thank you, thank you!"

For this, she decided, the risk was nothing compared to the reward.


End file.
